I visited Telford council’s gritter nerve centre as Storm Goretti threatens more snow

As weather forecasters warn of a possibly significant dumping of snow on Thursday night, I paid a visit to Telford’s gritter HQ.

Telford & Wrekin Council’s decision making centre at Granville House, in Donnington, has an array of screens including a weather radar map, and data on the state of the borough’s 1,000 kilometres of roads.

While forecasts for Thursday night for Storm Goretti are still uncertain about the times of any snow and ice formation, the team of local drivers from contractors Balfour Beatty are on standby for any late updates. It currently shows ice, frost, snow, heavy rain with times still uncertain.

Weather forecasts from MetDesk – a private company – can be updated but the night drivers will be ready even if they are phoned up at 2am and told to get out on the roads. 

I was there at midday on Tuesday when the latest MetDesk forecast landed and the key official made the decision to send out the nine gritters on eight routes. Recent decisions have been pretty clear cut to send the vehicles out but when information is more marginal they say they will err on the side of caution. 

So far this winter, the gritters have spread an impressive 1,300 tonnes of salt with 630 tonnes of that used since Friday.

For decision-maker Lewis Elliott, a council winter duty officer, it was a question of when, not if the gritters would be sent out to cover the 400km of borough council roads.

The forecast predicted hours of rain on Tuesday night ending about midnight when a big freeze up risked turning the roads into ice rinks.

Adam Brookes, service delivery manager for highways, said: “We have to try to catch it right if it freezes after rain.”

If the rock salt is spread before it rains, it can be washed off. It also needs vehicles to drive over it to crush it before it can melt ice and snow.

Mr Elliott, who hails from Telford, also considers data from two council weather stations – one at the A442 in Crudgington, the other near the golf course at Horsehay. Heat mapping data is also used.

Council officials and drivers, most of them also local residents, are acutely aware of the battering handed out to them by some commenters on social media where criticism comes to the fore.

Mr Elliott said: “We hear you on social media. People say we haven’t been out when we have.”

He said the location of all the gritter lorries is tracked and the data even includes how much salt is spread and where.

Another social media criticism comes when people see just the air temperature forecasts and ask why gritters haven’t been out if it’s freezing or have if it is well above zero degrees celsius.

But Mr Elliott said air temperatures can be well below freezing point but road surface temperatures are above and in those circumstances gritters are not needed. 

The amount of salt used can also be changed from inside the cabs. Tuesday night will see each lorry spreading 20 grammes of salt per square metre, totalling 60 tonnes across the network.

Other criticisms of the service include not salting all the roads and not doing it more often. Major roads like the M54 are gritted by National Highways.

But officials say any decision to add to routes or frequencies would mean increasing the service’s £500,000 budget with possible implications for levels of council tax.

Mr Brookes said: “It is not possible to grit all 1,000 kilometres of roads in Telford & Wrekin. We have to prioritise as it is not possible to do everything.”

The council prioritises roads leading to hospitals, fire, ambulance and police stations, bus and railway stations and other public transport stations, main shopping areas and schools.

They also grit district centres, bridges, car parks and town centre footpaths depending on how bad the snowfall is.

There is also a network of 766 grit bins and voluntary snow wardens in the community.

Officials added that there is no risk of them running out of either salt or money if bad weather persists or gets worse.

But Mr Elliott said: “You can always rely on us to be out when it counts.”